Hydraulic tensioning devices which are used, for example, in combustion engine traction means drives, are known from the prior art, for example DE 199 57527 A1.
DE 199 57527 A1 describes a hydraulic tensioning device for chain drives of internal combustion engines having a clamping piston which moves within a cylinder and which delimits a pressure chamber and by means of which the chain is tensioned as a function of the pressure prevailing in the pressure chamber, the tensioning device also having an inflow path which connects the pressure chamber to a hydraulic system and an outflow path connected to the pressure chamber, through which the hydraulic medium may flow out of the pressure chamber against an outflow resistance predefined by the shape of the outflow path. To improve the oscillation behavior and durability of the chain drive, the outflow path in this publication includes a throttle element which is able to move relative to a counterpart; the outflowing hydraulic medium flows through a throttle section delimited by the throttle element and the counterpart, and the throttle element is moved as a function of the pressure prevailing in the pressure chamber in such a way that the outflow resistance increases as the pressure increases.
The previously used hydraulic tensioners for traction means use an overpressure valve at the closure of the pressure chamber to be able to discharge the hydraulic medium if overpressure occurs in the pressure chamber. For this purpose, a closure element is provided therein, which opens in the aforementioned overpressure situation for the purpose of releasing an opening in the housing body. The closure element strikes a cage which is frequently situated within the housing body.